


The Waiting (is the Hardest Part)

by JustAndrea



Category: Wander Over Yonder
Genre: M/M, long distance relationship woes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 15:59:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8167705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAndrea/pseuds/JustAndrea
Summary: When dating a wanderer, you have to expect times where your relationship becomes a long distance one - though, that doesn’t make these times any easier to deal with. And even when sharing a ship, there are annoyances that can separate lovers. But, that just makes the time when you are together even sweeter - at least, that’s what Wander thinks, and his boyfriend can’t help but agree.





	

“-And so, if we simply move some of our troops to this quadrant, we should be able to defend ourselves from any of Sourdough’s attacks. Unfortunately, doing this would be leaving a few of our other planets with a weaker defense. So, I’d suggest equipping some of _these_ planets with some new weaponry. Giant lasers, a couple robots, new blasters - all fairly standard stuff. Of course, we’ll need to take money out of the budget, but I think you would agree-”

Hater sighed, completely droning out his commander’s speech, though it wasn’t because of total boredom. …Well, okay that wasn’t the _only_ reason why he wasn’t paying attention. No, the skeletal overlord had something much more important on his mind. 

Something orange and furry, something weird and annoying but also sweet and loving… Something warm and that was always able to put a smile on his face and gave good hugs and had soft lips and- Hater forcefully stopped his train of thought, shaking his head slightly as he tried not to blush.

“Sir? _Siiiir?_ Are you paying attention?” Peepers asked, even if he could easily tell that his lord wasn’t paying attention to his presentation in the slightest.

Hater groaned, crossing his arms. “Yeah yeah, Peepers, I’m listening to your dumb plan!”

“Oh?”

“Yeah! We’re just gonna, um… We’re gonna, uh- Build weapons! Yeah, that’s it!”

Peepers narrowed his eye a bit. “Lucky guess.” “What was that?” “O-Oh, nothing nothing. Well, then do I have your permission to tap into our budget and-”

“Yeah sure, whatever,” Hater told him with a wave of his hand. At this point, he would let Peepers paint the ship pink and cover it with stickers if he wanted to - _anything_ to get out of this boring-as-grop meeting! 

The commander rolled his eye slightly. “Well, with all of that taken care of, I guess the only thing left to discuss is… Do you want me to get you and Wander anything for tonight?” He still couldn’t help but grimace a bit as he asked this.

Hater blinked. “Huh? Peepers, what are you talking about?”

“Uhh, isn’t today the day Wander’s supposed to meet you in this system for another one of your, erm… date nights?”

The skeleton immediately perked up at that. “It’s today?!” He had thought it was tomorrow! However, instead of now feeling stressed out because of the short notice, Hater could only grin. “Weeeell, you could tell the guys down at the food court to make us a couple of pizzas - one meat lovers and one veggie. Oh, and get us some ice cream too!” He then narrowed his eyes a bit. “And make sure no one - _including you_ \- bothers us, got it?!”

Peepers sighed, turning on his heel and started walking towards the kitchen. “Yes Sir, of course Sir…” 

Grinning again, Hater ran to his room and started getting ready. After all, it was only a couple hours until supper time. So, the skeleton went to work tidying up his room a bit (though, his idea of tiding up was just shoving whatever he could find under his bed or in his closet for the time being), making sure Captain Tim had plenty of chew toys and food so he wouldn’t try to eat Wander, and taking a quick shower. Once he was done bathing, he put on a fresh cloak - the one with the flames, not too fancy but still nice - and sat down on his bed. 

Sure, it was a bit embarrassing to think that he - Lord Hater, a monarch of mayhem and one of the most ‘evil’ people in the galaxy - could get so caught up and excited over a date with a furry little weirdo. But, at the same time, Hater couldn’t bring himself to care too much, because that was _his_ furry little weirdo, and he made him happier than owning a thousand planets could. 

He sighed a bit, smiling softly. Yep, this was going to be a good- _*RIIIING!*_ Hater jumped in surprise, though calmed down when he realized that it was his glove phone. A bit annoyed that it had bothered him, he reluctantly answered it. “Call for Hater.”

_“Hey Hater!”_

“Wander?!” Hater started to smile once more, “Uh, h-hey! So, what’s up? Oh, and, just so you know, I’m _toootally_ ready for our date tonight!”

 _“…Yeah. That’s, heh, that’s sorta what I wanted to talk to you about._ ”

The skeleton frowned. “What, you… You don’t want to go on a date with me tonight?”

_“Oh, no no no, I do! I definitely do! But, well, Syl and I just aren’t gonna be able to make it tonight. See, where we’re at now is right in the middle of a solar storm!”_

“Solar storm?” Hater repeated. That sounded pretty dangerous. Thankfully, Wander didn’t sound too worried about it.

_“We’ll be fine once it passes. But, until then, all we can do is wait. Well, that help some of the locals find shelter. But yeah, it’s just way too dangerous to travel in an orbubble right now. Heck, even your big ol’ Skullship might’ve been in danger if you were here.”_

“Right… So, I guess we’ll have to just, re-schedule?” Hater asked, trying not to sound too upset - though, he must’ve failed at that.

 _“Ohh, I’m real sorry, honeybadger,”_ Wander told him, sounding both guilty and disappointed,  _“You don’t know how much I wanted to see you tonight-”_ Especially since the two of them had been away from each other for a couple months now, with Wander and Sylvia wanting to explore smaller and more unique planets while the Hater Empire focused on the big ones.  _“But, with the storm comin’, I just…”_

“H-Hey, it’s fine, really,” Hater told him, forcing a smile even if Wander couldn’t see him, “I’d rather you stay there than do something stupid like risking it in a solar storm, just to see me. And, besides, I… I have this game I need to finish anyway. So, yeah, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”

_“You sure?”_

“I’m sure. …And, you be okay too, alright? Don’t do something like give up your spot in a shelter for a stray dog or something.” 

Wander giggled a bit. _“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of myself. And I’ll see ya real soon, okay?”_

“Yeah, okay…” Hater paused for a moment, and then decided to add something that was still a bit strange and embarrassing for him to say, but he wanted to say it anyway. “I, you know… I-I love you, Wander!” There! Nailed it!

Wander chuckled. _“Love you too, sweetie.”_ And with that, the nomad’s sweet voice was replaced with dial tone. Smile falling once more, along with his horns drooping a bit, Hater flattened his hand and laid back on his bed. 

After a few moments, he heard his bedroom door open. “Okay, Sir, I have the pizzas but I could only find one container of ice cream,” Peepers said, just barely able to see past the food he was carrying, “So if you two need more, you’ll have to just take a mini Skullship to an ice-moon parlor, alright? …Sir?”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” he mumbled, “But, change of plans. Just leave the meat lover’s pizza. …And the ice cream.”

()()()()()()()()

Another three weeks passed before Wander and Hater were near each other again. It would’ve only been one week, but Sourdough’s forces turned out to be more crafty than Peepers had thought, which meant it took not only more soldiers but also more strategy to get the sandwich’s armada out of their territory. 

Wander didn’t mind though. After all, Hater still had a job to do, and he wasn’t going to fault him for that. But even so… “How long has it been since you and Bonehead have had some time together?” Sylvia asked.

“Oh, uh… Nearly three months now.”

“Geez,” the Zbornak shook her head slightly, “No wonder you look so down.”

“Huh? I-I’m not-!” The nomad quickly forced a cheerful smile onto his face. “I may be a bit disappointed, but I’m still lookin’ up, stayin’ positive and being thankful for what I have! …Even if I don’t get to see it as often as I would like.”

Sylvia sighed slightly, wrapping an arm around her friend. “Buddy, it’s normal to feel sad about being away from your boyfriend, you know. …Even if that boyfriend is someone like Lord Hater-” Who Sylvia still didn’t approve of one hundred percent, but if he (somehow) made her best friend happy, then so be it- “And especially after you’re used to running into them and hanging out with them every other week or somethin’ like that.”

“…” Wander gave a bit of a smaller, softer smile now - one that didn’t quite meet his eyes. “Yeah, I know… But, hey, at least I’m gonna see him again soon, right?”

Sylvia smiled back at him. “Yep. And speaking of which: You ready to get going again?”

Wander first took a moment to shove their picnic basket back into his hat, paused for a moment, pulled out their bottle of orbital juice, and then gave her a thumbs up. “Yep! Ready to go!” 

Nodding, Sylvia trotted forward a few steps, and within seconds Wander had formed an orbubble around them and they were floating up into the sky. And, even with orbubbles not being the fastest thing in the Galaxy, the duo still managed to finally make it to the Skullship after an hour or so of walking. Good thing too, because by this point Wander was so excited that he was nearly jumping for joy. Sylvia rolled her eyes a bit at it, but smiled nonetheless, and wasn’t too annoyed (or surprised) when Wander leapt out of the orbubble and started running towards Hater’s room as soon as the jaw of the mighty ship opened up for them.

Of course, on his way Wander would stop to say hi to both familiar Watchdogs and ones that were newly hired, but his pace never slowed down too much - not until he reached floor H-8 and was standing in front of the giant door. Squeeing a bit, the nomad took a deep breath, and knocked. “Oh Haaaterrrr~” he called in a sing-song voice.

On the other side of the door, there were a couple thuds, a small crash and a pretty hoarse sounding cough. “W-Wander?” a muffled voice asked, “I-Is that you?” 

Wander blinked, and started to open up the door. “Ha-?”

“DON’T! *cough cough*” He quickly shut the door, mumbling a quick apology. “Hater, sweetie, are you alright?”

“’M fine… Just, have some sort of cold or something… Probably got it from that stupid sandwich. The guy’s probably starting to go *cough cough* r-rotten!”

“Did you actually eat any of Sourdough?” “N-No but *gag* but he smells awful and is probably covered in germs!” Actually, Hater was sure that wasn’t the case, and didn’t even think Sourdough smelled that bad - must have been a side effect of their magic - but it was much easier to blame someone else for getting him sick.

“Aww, Hater…” Wander hadn’t even known that skeletons could get sick. But that didn’t matter now - If his boyfriend was sick, he wanted to help him feel better. “You know, I could come in there and help-”

“NO!” Hater said quickly, “I-I don’t want you to see me all, all g-gross and *cough cough* and stuff!” He lowered his voice a bit. “…Besides, taking care of someone sick and gross isn’t exactly romantic…”

Wander gave a small smile. “Honeybadger, you’re not gross. And I don’t mind taking care of ya, really! I _want_ to help you feel better!”

“I know but, *cough* but I DO mind. And, I still don’t want you to see me like this…” After being apart for so long, Hater didn’t want their first day back together to be like this. And besides- “Ah… AH…CHOO!” There was a crackle of lightning, and Wander stepped back from the door just in time to watch it get electrocuted and burnt slightly. “…Besides, I’m pretty sure it would be dangerous for you too.”

“…Well, if you think it’s for the best…” Wander blew a kiss at the door, forcing a small smile. “Feel better soon, Hatey, and I’ll see you as soon as you get better! Love you!”

“Y-yeah, love you too…” With that, Wander began his slow walk away from the skeleton’s bedroom, trying his hardest to not let his disappointment get him down too much.

()()()()()()()()

For something to be strong enough to get a skeleton sick, it had to be strong enough to stick around for a while. Which is why it took Hater five days to get better - and it took another twelve hours for him and Wander to meet up again, thanks to a freak meteor storm that they both had to take cover from. But, when they finally saw each other again - Hater’s eagerness despite trying to hide it a bit and Wander’s pure happiness - they decided that it had been well worth the wait. 

“So, have I missed anything exciting?” Wander asked as they laid in bed - it was too late to really do anything else.

“Nah,” Hater shook his head, “Nothing really to talk about…” He gave his boyfriend a small smirk. “But, knowing you, you probably have tons of stories and adventures you want to tell me about.” 

Wander gave a bit of a sheepish smile at that, chuckling. “Yeahhh, and lots of pictures to show you too. But for now…” He started to lightly touch one of Hater’s horns, making him shiver slightly. “Well, I think we can catch up on things later, can’t we?”

“Hmph, I think we can,” Hater nodded, pulling him a bit closer. Grod, he missed how warm Wander was, and how soft and comforting his fur was. And his dark blue eyes… Just looking at them made the conqueror feel like everything was just going to be okay.

Wander had missed little things about Hater as well. The way his boyfriend’s horns would always move slightly based on his mood - so cute! He loved listening to the light hum of electricity that coursed through Hater’s bones (and his robotic arm), and he liked to play with his skeletal fingers and feel them run through his hair. 

Unable to help themselves anymore, the two lovers closed their eyes and started to lean forward, both of them initiating something that they were way over-due for. But, just before their lips could touch-

**_*BEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEP!*_ **

Their eyes shot opened, and they quickly realized that it was some sort of alarm. “Oh COME ON!” They said in unison - even Wander couldn’t hide his frustration at this point. However he did lead his now _very_ grumpy partner out of the bedroom, albeit a bit reluctantly. Funny how fire alarms always seem to happen at the worst possible times. 

By the time all of them had figured out the problem - turns out one of the asteroids from earlier hit a gas pipe somewhere - fixed it, turned off the alarm and turned on several systems that the alarm had automatically shut down, it was nearly three AM. So, unsurprisingly, neither one of them had the energy or was in the mood to even cuddle, and just fell asleep as soon as they hit the bed. 

()()()()()()()()

“Stupid fire alarm… Stupid morning… Stupid EVERYTHING!” Resisting the urge to throw something, Hater finished putting on his mascara and stomped back into his room, sitting down on the bed. To top it all off, Wander - who he already knew woke up early, but still! - hadn’t even bothered staying in bed so Hater could wake up to seeing him! “Where the heck is he anyway?! What, did something _else_ come up that would make him have to-?!”

“Hater?”

The skeleton quickly turned towards his bedroom door, and saw his boyfriend walking in with two plates of waffles in his hands. “…Oh,” he mumbled slightly. Of course.

“Just, thought I would surprise ya,” Wander said, bringing the plates over and setting them on the bed, “I mean, after all that’s happened… I just sorta figured-”

Hater wordlessly picked him up, bringing him into a hug. “Yeah,” he said quietly, unable to help but smile a bit, “Seems like something you’d do. …Thanks, Wan.”

Wander blinked, then happily returned the hug. “No problem, Honeybadger.” Once the hug ended, Wander took his plate and handed Hater his, and they both quickly dug into their breakfast.

“Mm, so-” Hater started to say, not too concerned with talking with his mouth full, “We haf’ the hol’ day toge’hur.”

Wander swallowed, giggling. “Yep! The whole day! Which means not only can catch up, but we have plenty of time to have fun together! And you know-” He gave a bit of a smirk, “I’m alright with _any_ kind of fun you have in mind, you know~” 

Hater immediately blushed at that, though he certainly wasn’t opposed to the idea. Definitely not opposed. But at the same time, he didn’t just love Wander for the bedroom stuff. “W-Well, we can do that kind of fun tonight, okay?”

“Sure!” Wander chirped, not minding at all, “Works for me!” He took another bite of his breakfast, and Hater followed suit.

“Mmm~ Grod, your cooking is soooo much better than Peepers’.” “Aww, I’m sure Mister Peepers tries his best.” “Yeah, but his best isn’t as good as yours.” “Heh, well, thank you, sweetie.” “Yeah yeah… Oh! Hey, I know something we could do after this!” “Hm? What?” “Well, you know that new video game where you’re an explorer on moon, and-”

There was a knock, and Hater stopped as both he and Wander turned their attention to the door. Hater felt his hands turn into fists, and his face turn into a scowl.

The person who was at the door knocked again. “Hello? Sir?” Hater’s scowl deepened. This could not be happening AGAIN!

The bedroom door finally opened, and Peepers peeked inside - though, as soon as he saw the look on his lord’s face, he quickly wished that he hadn’t. “U-Um… I hate to bother you two but, I-I just came to remind you about the video call we have set up with the King and Queen of A-Awyko in fifteen minutes. So, um-”

Hater growled, but resisted the urge to shout at him when he felt Wander put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Thanks, Mister Peepers. He’ll be sure to be there.” Taking that as a good enough answer, the commander quickly left the two of them alone, leaving awkward silence to fill the room. 

“…Um, you know, I’ve always sorta wanted to see what goes on in a conqueror’s meetin’,” Wander said after a few moments. Hater wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not. “So, if you don’t mind, I could just go with ya, and then afterwards we could-”

“NO!” The nomad blinked.

“…No, you don’t want me to come to the meetin’ with you, or-?”

“No more interruptions!” Hater shouted, standing up so he could stomp his foot, “I mean, it’s like the universe doesn’t want us to hang out or something?! We FINALLY get to be together after like FOUR MONTHS of interruptions, and we STILL have to deal with interruptions!” He just couldn’t take it anymore!

“But, Hater-!” Unfortunately, the skeleton was too focused on his rant to listen.

“And I just know that after the meeting, something else is gonna happen so that we can’t spend time together! And then you’re going to have to leave again or, or I’m gonna have to go conquer some place and- Just, ENOUGH! It’s not fair! So, we are going to just _sit here_ and enjoy each other’s company and hang out and kiss and do all the things couples are supposed to do and should be allowed to do! OKAY?!”

Hater waited a few moments, and when he didn’t get an answer from the nomad, he turned to look at him. Once he did though - once he saw the deep concern and even a little bit of fear on Wander’s face - his anger almost immediately faded. “…O-Oh. Oh, grop, Wander, I-” He sat down, hugging himself slightly and looking regretful. “I-I’m sorry for- I, I didn’t mean to-”

“Shh…” Wander leaned over, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend and giving him a small pat on the back, “…After all we’ve had to deal with, I can’t really blame ya for blowin’ up like that. …And, you aren’t the only one feeling sorta frustrated, you know.”

“R-Really?” Hater asked, glancing down at him. Wander nodded. “…Still, sorry for yelling… I, I know that all the dumb stuff that’s been happening isn’t anyone’s fault, it just happened. But, it’s still annoying to deal with.”

Wander gave a small chuckle, despite himself. “Yeah… You know, after all of this, maybe we should sorta think about-”

Hater felt a pinch of panic in his ribcage, and quickly let go of his boyfriend. “W-Wait, I- I really am sorry! Please, Wander, don’t-! Don’t say that we should think about breaking up!”

“What?!” Wander quickly shook his head, “Oh Hater, sweetie, no! I wasn’t gonna say that! I was just going to say that maybe we should think about making some changes. Like… maybe I could take a break from wanderin’ and just stay here on the ship with you for a bit.”

“…” Hater blinked. “But, you love wandering.”

The nomad gave a small shrug. “Of course I do… But I love you too.”

“W-Well, then… Maybe I can take a break from conquering and just travel with you and Sylvia for a few months. I mean, as long as you don’t mind it.” 

“Of course I wouldn’t mind it but, what about bein’ a lord?” “Eh, Peepers can take care of most of that stuff. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.” “You’d have to sleep outside most of the time, and you wouldn’t have tv or very many vidya’ games.” “…Y-Yeah, well, so what? You shouldn’t have to be the only one to have to give up something…”

“…” Standing up on the bed, Wander kissed him on his boney cheek, wrapping his arms around Hater’s neck. “You know, you really are sweet as sugar when you want to be~” Hater pouted a bit, but didn’t try to argue. “And, Sylvia and I are plannin’ on staying here for a few days, so we’ll have plenty of time to talk it over and figure out what we want to do together, okay?”

Hater thought for a bit, then nodded. “Yeah, okay.” 

Wander nuzzled his cheek, purring slightly. “I know we’ll figure somethin’ out. After all, as long as we’ve got each other and the Power of Love, we’ll be fine.”

“Yeah,” the skeletal overlord smiled, “Power of Love…” Even if it still sounded pretty lame to him, the feelings and comfort that came from it wasn’t lame at all. And with that, Hater turned his head and finally - _finally_ \- kissed Wander right on the lips. Of course, Wander didn’t hesitate to return it and they kept the kiss going for as long as they could. 

Once it ended, Wander gave him one last hug before sitting back down on the bed. “…Come on, we should probably finish up our breakfast and get to the meeting of yours.”

Disappointed prodded at him again, but Hater refused to let it show. “Yeah, okay.” So, the two of them quickly ate the rest of their now luke-warm waffles, and then headed down to the video briefing-and-meeting room, their hands intertwined. 

Peepers, of course, was already there and setting up the call. Sylvia, who really had nothing else to do and wanted to check up on Wander anyway, was there as well. “…Hey,” she greeted once she saw them enter. Wander gave her a wave while Hater just gave her a nod.

“So, these are the guys we want the gold from?” Hater asked.

“Goldonium,” Peepers corrected, “Make sure you remember that, they’re very proud of it. Honestly, I’m still not sure how they managed to fuse gold and plutonium together, but they’ve got enough to defend against any of our attempts to take it by force, so negotiation is really the only option. Please remember that, Sir, and try to be polite.”

“Okay,” Hater said simply, making his commander blink in surprise. 

“…Really? That’s all?” Not a single complaint? For a moment, Peepers thought, he had made just gone deaf for a moment and missed his lord’s complaining. 

But Hater just gave a small nod. “Yeah, okay,” he repeated, “Let’s just do this meeting and get that Goldonium.” 

“…” Finishing up the last of his connections, Peepers turned to look at Hater. The anger he had seen from him before was completely gone. Instead, what was on his face was disappointment, but acceptance. Peepers could see it on Wander’s face as well, though he was able to somewhat hide it with a smile. 

The commander turned his attention back to the giant screen, then absentmindedly glanced back at his lord and the wandering weirdo, then quickly snapped his attention back to the screen, then… “Oh flarp it,” he muttered, shaking his head. What did it matter? He was going to do most of the talking anyway. 

“You know, Sir?” he started to say, slowly turning back around, “Now that I think about it, your presence isn’t really necessary here. Granted, it would be a bit helpful… but it’s not needed.”

The skeleton blinked. “…So-?”

“So-” Peepers paused for a moment, sighing slightly, “Since you aren’t needed here and there shouldn’t be anything else for you to do today, and if you don’t want to attend this meeting, you’re free to leave and… go do whatever you want.”

Both Hater and Wander looked surprised at that, but quickly started to grin. “Wow, thanks so much, Mister Peepers!” “Yeah, thanks, C Peeps!” With that, the two left the room, not even hesitating in heading back to Hater’s room.

Smirking, Sylvia turned to look at the commander, who was taking his place in what would’ve been Hater’s seat. “What, you startin’ to go soft, eyesore?” “Oh shut up.”

And as the negotiation meeting started, the two lovers couldn’t help but embrace as they were allowed to be alone on the other side of the ship once more. Laughing a bit, they laid back down on the bed, their hold on each other never once faltering, with the exception of Hater moving his hand a bit to rub Wander’s back and Wander pulling himself up slightly so he could nuzzle Hater’s face. 

Of course, there were plenty of other fun and enjoyable things they could do together with their now totally-free day. But, for the next few minutes at least, they weren’t going to worry about doing any of it. Instead, all they wanted to do was just lay in bed, relax, hold each other close, maybe talk a bit, definitely kiss a bit, and just enjoy each other’s company before starting one of the many activities that they could and would do together while they had the chance. 

Because, when it comes to being with the person you love, even the smallest, simplest things can be enjoyable - and _definitely_ worth the wait.

**THE END**


End file.
